Unemployment fall fails to mask concerns for young

But the reduction still leaves the region with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

According to the latest data, 8.9 per cent of people in Yorkshire are out of work with only the North East and the West Midlands seeing worse figures.

The number of people claiming jobseekers’ allowance in Yorkshire has fallen by around 13,500 in the last year to just over 150,000.

Nationally, the so-called claimant count fell by 29,200 in July – the ninth consecutive monthly drop – to 1.4 million, the lowest since February 2009.

The Government seized on the figure as further evidence that the economy is firmly on the path to recovery. Employment Minister Mark Hoban said: “With 29,000 fewer people claiming jobseeker’s allowance compared to this time last month, and more people in work than ever before, today’s figures paint a positive picture of the UK labour market.

“There are now more jobs available than at any time since the end of 2008, and more hours being worked than ever before – which shows that there are opportunities out there for people who want to work and get on in life.”

However, concerns were expressed over the lack of job opportunities for particular groups after the latest figures showed across the country unemployment among 16- to 24-year-olds increased by 15,000 to reach 973,000, while the number of people out of work for more than two years rose by 10,000 to 474,000, the highest since 1997.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of the union Unison, said: “Today’s small drop in unemployment rates masks the damaging growth of under-employment plaguing the country and stifling economic recovery.

“A toxic combination of part-time, minimum wage, zero-hours working is spreading across the country, as decently paid, full-time opportunities become increasingly rare.”

Other figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that average weekly earnings, including bonuses, increased by 2.1 per cent in the year to June, up by 0.3 per cent on the previous month.

It is the first time the rate has gone over two per cent since 2011, but the ONS said it reflected unusually high bonus payments in April amid suggestions that City workers deferred their bonuses to take advantage of the cut in the top rate of tax.

Shadow employment Minister Stephen Timms said: “Any increase in employment is to be welcomed, but the real story of the labour market is a living standards crisis with falling real wages, and millions working harder for less.

“David Cameron says he’s fixed the economy but for ordinary families things are getting harder not easier.

“Ministers just sound out of touch when they ignore the fact that the number of people who are working part-time because they cannot find a full-time job is at record levels.”

A separate set of official figures yesterday confirmed that the longest recession to afflict the eurozone ended in the second quarter of the year.

Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office, said the 17 European Union countries that use the euro saw their collective economic output grow by 0.3 per cent in the April to June period from the previous quarter.

It is the first quarterly growth since the eurozone slipped into recession in the last three months of 2011.